On Friday, December 18th, the Pascack Hills Boys’ Basketball team traveled to Mahwah for opening night of the 2015-2016 season. It wasn’t the prettiest of games for either team, but a win is a win. The Cowboys defeated the Thunderbirds, 48-46 in thrilling fashion without senior guard Evan Schumer due to an ankle injury.

With less than two minutes to go, Hills was only up four until junior forward Michael Murphy hit a clutch three in transition. Those would be his only points of the contest. Mahwah had a quick answer with a three of their own, to keep the game close.

With only 30 seconds left in the game, Hills was up 46-43. The Thunderbirds needed a three to tie the game. After two of Mahwah’s shooters missed their three-pointers, Mahwah crashed the glass, grabbed the offensive rebound, went back up for the shot, got fouled, and the made the shot. It was 46-45 with #30 at the line for his free throw. He sunk the free throw.

Pascack Hills’ Coach Kirkby called a timeout to draw up a play. There were 3.2 seconds left in the game and the Cowboys had to go the length of the floor. Senior Guard Evan Lazarus was ready to inbound the ball. He threw to Murphy at half court. Murphy then turned to his left and bounced a pass to Junior Forward Nick Guillemain. Nick not slowing down received the pass, took one dribble and attacked the basket. He hit a fade away running floater with 0.7 seconds left, to give the Cowboys the 48-46 lead. He was fouled in the action, but missed the free throw.

The Thunderbirds would have one more shot to win. 0.2 seconds were now on the clock. The in bounder threw a baseball pass to the opposite three-point line, but Hills’ Junior Guard Jason Shill intercepted the pass, securing the first win of the season for the Cowboys.

Nick “Guilly” Guillemain was the hero. He finished the game with 33 points. Guilly scored more than half of the team’s points in the victory. Other notable performances were by Senior Center Zach Broadman and Guard Evan Lazarus. Broadman had six points and added a number of rebounds. Lazarus filled the stat sheet with five points, ten assists and nine rebounds. Senior guard Stevie Steiger would struggle in his first game, after missing last season due to hip surgery.

The next game for the Cowboys is Tuesday, December 22nd at home versus Westwood at 7 p.m.